Activity Monitor with Incentive Features

ABSTRACT

A method of monitoring a user&#39;s activity and rewarding the monitored activity. In some embodiments, the method includes the steps of detecting motion of a user supported device; summing the motion; transmitting summed device motion to a reward center; and providing a reward to the user based on the summed device motion without comparing the device motion to a predefined kind of motion stored within the device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of U.S.Application No. 60/897,550, filed Jan. 25, 2007, which is incorporatedby reference as if fully set forth herein.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

All publications and patent applications mentioned in this specificationare herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if eachindividual publication or patent application was specifically andindividually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the tracking of physical activity usingmethods of accelerometry and providing digital rewards as an incentivefor engaging in physical activity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The positive effects of regular physical activity are well documented,but motivation to maintain adequate levels of activity over the longterm is often lacking. The use of digital rewards, such as music files,cell phone minutes, access to online games or virtual rewards or‘collectibles’, provides an incentive for participation in physicalactivity that is desirable over the long term.

Tools for measuring physical activity are often designed for trackingspecific movements such as running or walking. In addition there areproducts that act as a personal coach for the user and encourage them toperform specific tasks over distinct time periods. While these tools maybe useful in motivated adults, tweens and teens do not generally engagein physically demanding activities for the purpose of exercise andhealth promotion but rather for the fun of the activity and to socializewith others. In order to get tweens and teens to be physically activethe activity must be fun and provide social interaction. In order tokeep tweens and teens active you need to provide incentives that are funand social as well as being attractive over time.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that youngpeople engage in at least 1 hour of moderate to vigorous physicalactivity each day to maintain good health. Metabolic equivalents (METS)are a standard measurement of activity intensity based on the amount ofoxygen the body uses during a specific activity. A moderate level ofactivity, 3-6 METS, can be reached by participating in everydayactivities such as walking, mowing the lawn or bathing a dog.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,872 describes a pedometer for use by a child thatmonitors the user's walking or running steps with a vibration detector.The display state of a character shown on the device's screen changesbased on the number of steps detected. Walking and running are the onlymotions detected, however, and no user-selected awards are providedbased on the user's activity level.

US 2006/0025282 describes a child's exercise computer that compares theuser's movement to a preset exercise routine. Successful performance ofthe exercise routine enables the child to obtain rewards such as musicfiles or video games. Rather than detect and record all motion, however,this device monitors and rewards only activity that complies with presetexercise routines.

US 2006/0293041 describes a rewards-based system that relies on apedometer interfacing with a cell phone.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A product that can measure a user's physical activity throughout the dayand then provide incentives for engaging in activity would be a greatmotivator for young people. A user could earn credits for incentiveswhile performing every day activities, such as walking, and would nothave to be an athlete in order to earn rewards. In order to maintain theinterest of young people the product may have a social component to it.For instance, the website supporting the product may provide users theability to post their activity accomplishments, acknowledge theaccomplishments of friends by sending them a digital graphicalrepresentation or list high earners for the day. In addition, theproduct may have the ability for proximity based interaction with otherproducts. A user could engage in a friendly competition and comparetheir accomplishments in real time.

In some embodiments, the present invention continually tracks a user'sduration and intensity of physical activity while in use, awards creditsfor activity reaching a specific level of activity, provides tools forthe user to interact and share their activity credit status and providesa method for the redemption of activity credits for actual rewards.Another embodiment of the present invention includes all functionslisted previously but also has an audio file player and the relatedsoftware functions for the management of digital music files. A webbased application will manage the assignment of credits and thedispensation of rewards in a manner that is engaging to the targetusers. The web application may also provide a method (e.g., widget) forthe user to post information about their use of the present invention,including credit earned or rewards received, on a social networking siteon the internet.

One aspect of the invention provides a method of monitoring a user'sactivity and rewarding the monitored activity. In some embodiments, themethod includes the steps of detecting motion of a user supporteddevice; summing the motion; transmitting summed device motion to areward center, possibly over the internet; and providing a reward (suchas a music file) to the user based on the summed device motion withoutcomparing the device motion to a predefined kind of motion stored withinthe device. In some embodiments, the music file reward may be played bythe device.

Some embodiments include the step of determining whether device motionis the user's activity, wherein the device sums the device motion onlyif the device motion is the user's activity. In some embodiments, thedevice may display activity information. Some embodiments also includethe step of setting a monitoring period and displaying summed devicemotion at the end of the monitoring period.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity inthe claims that follow. A better understanding of the features andadvantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to thefollowing detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments,in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is schematic diagram of an activity monitor according to thisinvention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating measurement of user movement.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing activity tracking according to oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing use of a challenge function in oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing activity data upload.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing calculation and display of rewardcredits.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing reward funding schemes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of an activity monitor 10 according to thisinvention. Activity monitor 10 has a housing 12 of a size, shape andweight that permits it to be held, carried or otherwise supported by achild. For example, housing 12 may be similar in size, shape and weightto an MP3 music player. Visible from the exterior of housing 12 are adisplay 14 and a variety of other input/output devices, such as awireless transmitter 16 for proximity data transfer, a wiredtransmission connector for a data transmission channel 18, a power portor connector 20, an audio output port 22, and one or more buttons orkeys serving as, e.g., an on/off switch 24, a use mode selector 26, adata transfer activator 28 and an input lock 30.

Housing 12 contains the circuitry and other components of the activitymonitor. A processor or CPU 32 communicates with an accelerometer orother motion detector 34 and an optional magnetometer 36 to obtaininformation about the user's physical activity. (Power and communicationchannels are omitted from FIG. 1 for clarity of illustration.) In oneembodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the measurement of real timemovement 40 of the activity monitor on the x, y and z axis from theaccelerometer (as shown in block 42) is converted by CPU 32 to a singlemeasurement of intensity (e.g., vector magnitude, as shown in block 44)using methods common in the art. The 3-axis magnetometer data (block 46)is also processed by CPU 32 and stored as descriptor of variance and/orvector magnitude (block 48) also using methods common in the art. Aflash based memory (or other suitable memory device) stores the activitydata (accelerometer and magnetometer) (block 50) until it can beuploaded to the related web application by way of, e.g., a wired outputport 18 (for example, USB-2 cord) or wireless output port 16 (forexample, wireless transmission using the Bluetooth protocol). Transferof the data can be initiated using one of the device's buttons or keys28.

The 3-axis accelerometer 34 is able to track a wide range of humanmovements that occur over time periods as short as a fraction of asecond. In one embodiment, the activity intensity stored in the on boardmemory will be compressed by summing the vector magnitude over aspecified duration of time.

An on-board 3-axis magnetometer 36 is able to track change inorientation of the unit that would indicate that the unit is not beingworn as intended. If the unit is removed from the body and subjected toconditions intended to be perceived as exercise activity, in most cases,the patterns of data output from the magnetometer will differ fromnormal use patterns. When the unit is used as intended, large variancein orientation is measured by the 3-axis magnetometer even if a personis participating in repeated motions (e.g., throwing a ball, spinning incircles, swinging a racket). In contrast, very low variance is seen inartificially created movement (e.g., a fan blade), and this informationcan be used to signal that the movement seen was not generated by theuser's physical movement. An algorithm detecting the variance in themagnetometer readings will be used to identify instances where the usermay be trying to earn credits for rewards with out participating inphysical activity.

The activity monitor 10 is powered by a rechargeable battery (e.g.,lithium battery) (not shown). The user will be informed of the status ofthe battery charge by an iconic, numeric and/or other visual cue (e.g.,change in color of a light) (not shown) on the unit. The battery willdraw power from the user's personal computer when connected for datatransfer and will continue to charge as long as the computer is poweredon. The battery can also be charged by plugging an AC adaptor cord tothe power outlet on the unit.

FIG. 3 illustrates activity monitoring using the devices and methods ofthe invention. The measurement of physical activity starts when the userturns on the activity monitor (block 60). Physical activity is thenmeasured continuously until the unit is actively turned off (block 74)or goes into sleep mode (block 70). The unit will go into sleep modeafter a significant amount of time is detected where the vectormagnitude for both the accelerometer and/or magnetometer equals zero(block 68), indicating the unit is not being carried by the user. Thedevice comes out of sleep mode when movement is detected (block 72) andresumes tracking activity.

In an embodiment of the invention, activity monitor 10 includes adigital music player, and CPU 32 (or another processor) converts digitalmusic files stored, e.g., in MP3 format in memory 38 to an audio outputat audio output port 22. In such an embodiment, the user will have theoption of turning on the unit and starting activity tracking but thenlock other features from being activated accidentally. For example, asliding lock switch 30 may be moved to a position that prevents otherinput devices (such as buttons or keys 24, 26, and 28) from being used.There is also the option of starting activity tracking while using theaudio file player function of the device, so the user can listen todigital audio files while engaging in physical activity. The presentinvention is carried by user in a fashion that keeps the unit close tothe trunk of their body (e.g., in pants pocket, in a belt holster) inany orientation that is convenient.

The user can receive real time feedback on the intensity of theirmovement by information displayed on the unit. Real time feedback caninclude the display of a graphical representation of different activityintensities or a numerical representation of the intensity, shown ondisplay 14.

In some embodiments, the user will also have the option of challengingthemselves or friends to reach a specific intensity of activity, asillustrated in FIG. 4. To use the challenge function the user selectsthe challenge option (block 82), performs their self selected activity(block 84), selects the challenge option again to end the challengeperiod (block 86), and then the mean intensity for that period of timeis displayed (block 88). Different users could compare their respectiveintensities (block 90) by simply reading the display (blocks 92 and 94),or they can transfer the information to the other user's unit by awireless proximity based data transfer interaction (block 16) and havean audio and/or visual representation of the results of the challenge(blocks 96, 98 and 100).

In some embodiments, a software application will need to be installed onthe user's personal computer to facilitate the transfer of data from theactivity monitor to the related web application, as illustrated in FIG.5. The software application may run in the background of the user'soperating system and therefore not require specific interaction betweenthe user and the program. The primary functions of the softwareapplication include the updating of the clock and the facilitation ofthe transfer of activity data from the present invention to the webapplication. After tracking user activity (block 112), the user canconnect to the PC (wirelessly or through a wired connection) to transferactivity data to the PC (blocks 114-118). If the user's personalcomputer is not connected to the internet when the present invention isconnected the data could be queued for transfer at a time when aninternet connection is established (block 120). Otherwise, if the PC isalready connected to the internet, then activity data is uploaded to theweb application to update the user's information within the webapplication (blocks 122 and 124). The activity monitor is thendisconnected from the PC to permit it to resume tracking activity (block126).

FIG. 6 shows one embodiment of the activity reward method of thisinvention. After activity data is transferred to the web application(block 130) via the local software application, the data is linked to aspecific user account by using, e.g., a digital marker within theuploaded data (block 132). Using methods and algorithms common in theart, activity intensity is converted to metabolic equivalents per unitof time. The amount of time where the metabolic equivalents is at leastequal to moderately intense activity (as measured, e.g., via vectormagnitude) will earn the user reward credits (block 134). The ratio oftime spent in moderately intense activity to reward credits earned isdetermined by the amount of physical activity one would like to promote.The user's account is thereafter updated with the appropriate number ofactivity credits (block 136). Users can track their credits and viewpotential rewards for their credits by logging on to the website (blocks138, 140 and 142).

FIG. 7 shows two models for funding and redeeming awards. In the firstmodel (Model A) the distributor and manager of the web application is aninstitution (block 200) (e.g. nonprofit foundation, government entity)that funds the reward credits directly (block 204). The second model(Model B) requires an individual (block 202), such as a parent orguardian of the device user, to pay for a desired number of rewardcredits which are then spent by the user on available rewards via thedistributor managed web application when enough activity is completed(block 204).

The administration of reward dispensation is overseen by a third partyvendor (e.g., PayPal) (block 206). Alternatively this administration canalso be accomplished within the web application specific for the presentinvention. Credits may then be spent by the user to obtain rewards(block 208), such as digital music files that may be downloaded to theuser's PC and/or activity monitor.

The web application will be automatically updated whenever the userconnects their unit to an internet connected personal computer. The userwill use their preferred internet browser to navigate to the webapplication for the present invention in order to view theiractivity/credit status. The home page of the web application will havecontent engaging to the target population and provide a place for theuser to login in to their private account with a user generated loginand password. Once in their account the user will see informationrelated to their current status, such as credits earned and rewardsaccumulated (blocks 210, 212 and 214).

Available rewards can include audio music files, access to online games,ring tones, donations to nonprofit institutions, mobile phone minutes,digital graphical representations and digital acknowledgments. Userswould also have the option of donating credits to another user'saccount.

The downloading, management and uploading of audio file rewards will befacilitated by a music manager software client, such as Songbird. Thetransfer of audio files to the embodiment of the unit with an audio fileplayer will be conducted over the same transmission channel that is usedfor data transfer.

The invention also relates to the way in which rewards are achieved. Ayoung person does not need to be a skilled athlete to receive the healthbenefits of physical activity. Providing an incentive for physicalactivity that reaches at least a moderate level can be motivating toyoung people of a wide range of fitness levels. It is important to youngpeople to feel like the dispensation of rewards are fair and that allusers have an equal chance to earn rewards. A user should not earncredits at a higher rate because they are able to participate inactivities at a higher level.

Therefore, in some embodiments credits are awarded to users once theintensity of physical activity reaches a level that is known to bemoderate for persons of a wide range of sizes and fitness levels. Ifusers who participated in activities at extremely high intensitiesearned more credits or earned them at a faster rate the incentive modelwould not be fair to users unable to perform at the intense level. Areward credit should be awarded once a user's activity reaches theintensity threshold determined to be moderate for persons of wide rangesizes and fitness levels for a distinct amount of time. A user wouldneed to have accrued specified amount of minutes of activity in thecredit earning range in order to have enough credits for a reward butwould be able to take as much time as needed to earn these credits. Alimit may be placed on the rate that credits can be earned in order toprevent the temptation to overly exert oneself.

1. A method of monitoring a user's activity and rewarding the monitoredactivity, the method comprising: detecting motion of a user supporteddevice; summing the motion; transmitting summed device motion to areward center; and providing a reward to the user based on the summeddevice motion without comparing the device motion to a predefined kindof motion stored within the device.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein thereward comprises an audio file.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein thedetecting and summing steps are performed by the user supported device,the method further comprising playing the music file with the usersupported device.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprisingdetermining whether device motion is the user's activity, the summingstep comprising summing the device motion only if the device motion isthe user's activity.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmittingstep comprises transmitting summed device motion over the internet. 6.The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying activity informationon the device.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising setting amonitoring period and displaying summed device motion at the end of themonitoring period.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the reward comprisescell phone minutes.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the rewardcomprises access to online games.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein thereward comprises virtual rewards.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein thereward comprises a collectible item.